October 1911. South Framingham, Massachusetts. Joseph Frank Nugent, 22 Howard Street, works in Department 8A of Dennison Factory; makes paper boxes. "I nip the covers." "One year there, 'bout time for a raise." View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. This reminds me of a painting by Magritte.

May 1910. St. Louis, Missouri. "Bundle Boys at Nugent's, Washington and Broadway." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

December 1941. Goodrich plant at Akron, Ohio. "Rubber stock for track treads of scout cars and other Army halftrack vehicles is milled in one Ohio tire plant. All rubber firmly 'welded' to the steel parts is formed into one tough durable piece." View full size. 4x5 negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

December 1941. "New recruits for America's armies. Scout cars ready for delivery. White Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio." View full size. 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

Firestone rubber plant. Akron, Ohio. February 1942. "Conversion. Beverage containers to aviation oxygen cylinders. After the circumferential straps are welded to the cylindrical portion in the metal division of a large Eastern rubber factory, rough edges and accumulated weld scale are removed by a skilled workman. The twin rotary brushes do their work on the inside and outside of the cylinder in the same operation. This process is required in the manufacture of shatterproof oxygen cylinders for high altitude flying." 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

New York or Washington circa 1844-1851. "General Hugh Brady, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing three-quarters left, in military uniform." Half-plate daguerreotype from the studio of Mathew Brady. View full size.

March 1939. "Mexican man in front of movie theater. San Antonio, Texas." 35mm negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

October 1942. "Testing electric wiring at Douglas Aircraft Company. Long Beach, California." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

Chicago, January 1943. "Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific 'Hiawatha' about to leave from Union Station." View full size. Photograph by Jack Delano.

Philadelphia, November 1839. "Robert Cornelius, self-portrait facing front, arms crossed. Inscription on backing: The first light-picture ever taken. 1839." One of the first photographs made in the United States, this quarter-plate daguerreotype, taken in the yard of the Cornelius family's lamp-making business in Philadelphia, is said to be the earliest photographic portrait of a person. View full size.

Cincinnati circa 1850s. "Unidentified woman, half length portrait, seated with arm on table." Sixth-plate daguerreotype by James Presley Ball. View full size.

Circa 1844-1860, another portrait sitter from the studio of Mathew Brady, this one with a striking amoeba-shaped chapeau. "Unidentified woman, head and shoulders portrait, facing front. Sixth-plate daguerreotype. Hallmark: Rinhart 31. Scratched on back of plate: 304. Same sitter as in Dag No. 116." View full size.

Circa 1844-1860 daguerreotype from the studio of Mathew Brady. "Unidentified man, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right." View full size.

1862. On the James River in Virginia. "Effect of Confederate shot on Federal ironclad Galena." Wet plate glass negative by James F. Gibson. View full size.

July 9, 1862. "James River, Virginia. Sailors relaxing on deck of the U.S.S. Monitor." From photographs of the Federal Navy and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy, 1861-1865. View full size. Wet plate negative, left half of stereograph pair. Photograph by James F. Gibson.